Little Sandy Dam, Sandy River
A pending case in the U.S. Supreme Court brought by the owner of a five-dam hydropower project on Maine’s Presumpscot River - threatens to take away the authority of each state to protect water quality affected by hydropower dams. The court needs to hear from every single state that state governments must keep the power to protect their own rivers under the Clean Water Act. Please call your state Attorney General and ask him or her to stand with Maine and stand up for rivers.

If the dam owner wins this case, rivers everywhere will lose. Your state will no longer be able to require hydropower dams to meet state water quality standards. States need to be able to protect fisheries, wildlife, recreation, water quality, and much more. Losing this broad authority would be a devastating blow to dammed rivers.

Click here to find out how you can call and ask your state’s Attorney General to sign onto the friend-of-the-court (or “amicus”) brief being circulated by the states of New York and Washington for this case (S.D. Warren v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection). The deadlines for briefs in the case fall during the holidays, so please call right away.

Sincerely,
RW Signature
Rebecca R. Wodder
President
American Rivers

American Rivers provides a lookup for you attorney general, then a phone number.

Talking points for your call:

My name is ___________, and I’m a citizen of _______________(your home state)

I’m calling to ask you to fight for YOUR STATE’s power to protect water quality on rivers affected by hydropower dams.

A case pending in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, S.D. Warren Co. v. Maine Dep't of Environ. Protection, threatens to take away this valuable state authority.

State governments regularly use this Clean Water Act Section 401 authority to protect water quality, fisheries, wildlife, recreation, and other important natural resources that are harmed by hydropower dams. This state authority in the Clean Water Act was established by Congress specifically to address water quality issues at hydropower dams.

The states of New York and Washington are drafting an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief in support of the state of Maine, which is being challenged by a hydropower dam owner. If the dam owner wins, the decision would affect every state, including YOUR STATE.

The offices of the Washington and New York Attorneys General will circulate a draft brief to states this week (the week of December 19th). It is critical that YOUR STATE sign on to this brief before January 3rd.

In the past, as many as 40 states at a time have signed on to similar amicus briefs to uphold the states’ Clean Water Act section 401 authority.

[If your Attorney General asks for more information]: Please call the contacts in the states of Washington or New York that are listed on the draft brief.